It's a few minutes past 11 p.m. on a Saturday night. The rain falls in torrents outside the Science Center, but Harvard students are still heading to and from locations throughout the campus.

Meanwhile, in Science Center 112, a group of students sit at desks awaiting a telephone call. David A. Bell '89, Liam T. A. Ford '91 and Christopher M. VanDyke '89 have volunteered to be the SafeStreets team for the evening. Tonight, it's their job to accompany anyone who calls 5-TROD or drops by looking for an escort anywhere on campus, excluding the Business School and destinations across the River.

SafeStreets, a student escort service, started up on March 6 under the leadership of Abigail N. Sosland '91. Sosland brought her idea to the Women's Alliance--which helped create the service--in the wake of the Science Center rape last December. The Undergraduate Council subsequently helped fund SafeStreets, as did the office of Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III. Sosland intended for the service to supplement the overburdened two-car University police escort program, she says.

"The old escort service is just not sufficient," says VanDyke, who is volunteering tonight for the second time since SafeStreets' inception. "With just two cars, they're often swamped with calls--not to mention that the cars can't go everywhere we can go on foot."

SafeStreets initially planned to base itself in Agassiz House--in the Radcliffe Quad--but then decided that location would be less efficient than the Science Center, which remains open 24 hours a day and is centrally located, group members say.

The seven-nights-per-week volunteer organization recruits by word of mouth, with students signing up for an 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. shift about once every two weeks. SafeStreets' current roster of volunteers now stands at about 130.

"Actually, SafeStreets used to operate from midnight to 6," says Bell. "The time was changed just last week because we find that at around 11, people start to want to come home from plays or concerts and that past 5 a.m., most people feel safe enough to walk alone.

Most SafeStreets volunteers comment that few of the callers are men. "There's definitely a lot of pride involved," says Dunster House SafeStreets recruiter Cornelia Tietke '91. Tietke added that to remedy the problem, the two foot escorts wearing reflective sashes carry an extra sash, for anyone who wishes to wear one and appear to be part of the service as they are escorted.

All SafeStreets volunteers have undergone training sessions at the police station, members say. "It's pretty low-key," says Bell. "We basically watch a filmstrip that discusses the smart and the stupid things to do and say if you are approached at night by potential attackers."

Tonight there is an unusually small group of volunteers. Normally six strong per night, the staff includes only five including a Crimson reporter and photographer. SafeStreets has trouble staffing itself on Saturday nights, when the need for the service is often greatest.

The University has told the service that it must operate on a buddy system, so that no students are ever made vulnerable by working alone. "If there is an odd number on any given night we either send someone home or try to get another volunteer, because you need groups of two to escort as well as two people here at home base at all times," says Bell.

Because of the difficulty inherent in recruiting people to volunteer late-night hours, Sosland says she hopes that SafeStreets may evolve into an organization that can afford to pay its workers.

"We've been worrying that interest will die down. After doing a six-hour shift in the middle of the night, a lot of people become unhappy at the effects it has on their schedule," says Sosland. "If we can prove to Dean Epps that there is a definite need for our service, SafeStreets will hopefully become a work-study program."

11:15 p.m.--VanDyke and Bell read newspapers while Ford unlocks a small beige filing cabinet in a corner of the office. Within the drawers are SafeStreets' treasures: a cellular telephone, two beepers, the reflective sashes, two flashlights and a log book.

"Pretty neat, huh?," says VanDyke, as he explains how the equipment is used. "We have the [sashes] as well as SafeStreets' identification so that the person waiting for us can easily recognize us. Each escort pair gets one beeper so that home base can give us our next assignment while we're out walking someone else. And, the particulars about each assignment go in the log book--you know, time of call, whereabouts of caller, destination, escorters' names, etc."